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Observational Study
. 2018 Jul 4;18(1):825.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5731-z.

Medication adherence to antiretroviral therapy among newly treated people living with HIV

Yang Yu  1 , Dan Luo  2 , Xi Chen  3 , Zhulin Huang  4 , Min Wang  5 , Shuiyuan Xiao  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Medication adherence to antiretroviral therapy among newly treated people living with HIV

Yang Yu et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Free antiretroviral therapy has been implemented in China since 2004, but adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV is suboptimal. The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy is subject to medication adherence, which decreases with prolonged treatment times. The aim of this study was to investigate medication adherence and related factors among people living with HIV with newly initiated antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: This observational study was conducted in consecutive samples of people living with HIV who had newly initiated antiretroviral therapy. Participants were recruited between March 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014, from the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Infectious Disease hospital in a capital city in central China. A standard set of questionnaires was adopted, including the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS Antiretroviral Medications and Self-Report Questionnaire (CPCRA), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). T-test, Chi square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise were performed to explore factors that might influence medication adherence.

Results: Of the 207 participants, 85.5% of the participants (177/207) were categorized with good adherence, and 14.5% (30/207) with poor adherence. The multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that participants with positive depression (OR = 5.95, 95% CI: 2.34-15.11) and without disclosure of their HIV status to others (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.06-6.50) were more susceptible to poor adherence.

Conclusions: One-sixth of the participants reported suboptimal medication adherence within the first 6 months. Factors associated with poor adherence included non-disclosure of their HIV status, had positive depression. Tailored interventions, such as effective psychological coping strategies, should be implemented for people living with HIV with newly initiated antiretroviral therapy to improve their medication adherence.

Keywords: Antiretroviral therapy; Medication adherence; People living with HIV.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Central South University (CTXY-120033-3). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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